Faculty at Business School
Selected Key Faculty of MBA Program
The following is a list of key faculties at the Business School of the Virginia Institute of Science & Technology (VIST). All faculty in the MBA programs at VIST hold advanced degrees, such as Ph.D., DBA, MBA, or EMBA, as well as specialized degrees in areas including Leadership and Management, International Business, Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Enterprise Risk Management, Strategic Management, Operations Management, and Managerial Economics.
Each professor is either affiliated with prestigious universities or holds senior management roles in corporations or government agencies. These faculty members are recognized Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in their teaching fields.
All MBA program professors have at least four years of professional experience working in federal government agencies or large and small corporations. They bring expertise in the subjects they teach, along with insights into leading business theories, current technologies, and practical business skills aligned with today’s job market demands.
Lead Faculty of Business School, Dr. Sheldon XF Peng
Prof. Sheldon (Xiaofeng) Peng has over 30 years of experience as a professor in business schools at prestigious universities and as a senior executive in both large and small corporations.
As a professor and Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Accounting and Marketing Strategy, Dr. Peng has taught at University Commencement, Washburn University, Kent State University, the University of Toledo and honorable/Visiting professors at Nankai
University and Lanzhou University in China for more than 32 years. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Accounting from Kent State University, a Master of Science in Professional Accounting from Michigan State University, and a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Renmin University of China. Dr. Peng has held CPA certification for over 30 years and has served as a CFO for several large corporations since 1998. Since 2024, he has served as the Lead Faculty for MBA Program at VIST.
Professors who Teach During 2024-2025 Academic Years
Professors |
Academic Credentials |
Courses Teaching |
Industrial Experience |
Dr. Alexander Onukwugha |
DBA | MBA515 – Managerial Economics | Senior Director |
| Business Administration | LAM626 – Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management | Elite Protective Service, Inc. | |
| Argosy University | MBA560 – Human Resources and Organizational Behavior | Created integrated strategies that developed new and existing customer sales, brand product evolution and media endorsement | |
Dr. Yi Lin |
EDBA | MBA540 – Marketing Management | Exec. Director |
| Business Administration | LAM638 – International Business Management | TVMining Media and Tech Co., Ltd. | |
| University of Paris | LAM646 – Advanced Management Principles | As Co-founder, established an innovative company to make TV content searchable; Marketing Strategy. Plan. Budget and Operation. | |
| Dr.Gulsebnem Bishop |
Ph.D. & MBA | IAM640 – Information System Auditing and Monitoring; |
Senior Project Manager |
| Computer Study; Business Administration | IAM636 – Forensic Evaluation and Incident Response Management |
The Wilderness Society, Inc. | |
| Pace University; Stratford University | IAM647 – System Assessment & Security Risk Analysis | Provide critical systems management and data analysis services as well as databasesecurity and training to the Membership, Development and Communications teams; Establish and maintain internal business rules and processes for importing. |
|
Dr. Linghua Peng |
Ph.D. | MBA510 -Leadership & Management | Quantitative Analytics Director |
| Management Science & Information System |
MBA546 -Strategic Management | Freddie Mac | |
| University of Texas at Austin | MBA690 – Capstone Project | Management Managed a team of six economists in Credit Risk, Home Price Forecast, Counterparty Risk, and Affordable Goal Forecast modeling area. Responsible for assigning projects, coming up with approaches to tackle the projects, on-going discussion and progress monitoring of the projects, and offering support during the presentation of the results. Motivated and encouraged direct reports to take initiatives. Provided constant feedback on behavior and skill improvement, and mentored career development. |
|
Dr. Rafael Garcia Reilly |
Ph.D | LAM630 – Management of Innovation and Technology Change |
Development Advisor and Release Support Manager |
| Information Management Systems |
MAM615 – Data Sources for Marketing Analytics | Lucent Technologies | |
| Stevens Institute of Technology |
MAM628 – Marketing Analytics | Senior System Analyst responsible for staffing and training the Inferno/Limbo project; Lead development of Client /Server operating systems, including Limbo programming. | |
Dr. Sheldon Peng (CPA, CMA, CIA) |
Ph.D. |
MBA521 -Acco-unting for Decision Making | Present Managing Director, |
| Accounting | MBA536 – Finance for Decision Making | Essential Business Services, LLC | |
| Kent State University | MBA540 – Marketing Management | Specialized in accounting, tax, and business consulting; Assistant (Corporate) Controller. |
|
| Dr. Paul Wang |
Ph.D. | MAM632 – Digital Marketing | Chief Information and IT Security Officer (CIO/CISO) |
| Computer Science & IT | MAM622 – Advanced Analytics & Modeling | National Biomedical Research Foundation. | |
| George Mason University | IAM 626 – Advanced Applied Digital Forensics | Conducted entire foundation information system management, information security strategy, planning, policy, implementation, and networking architecture, security and infrastructure. |
|
Dr. Xinlong Weng |
Post-Doc & Ph.D. | MBA536 – Finance for Decision Making | General Manager |
| Statistics, & Mathematics |
MBA546 -Strategic Management | Hangzhou Mei Zhong Education Technology, Inc. | |
| Yale University; University of South Florida | MAM648 – Marketing Strategy and Planning | Built courseware in MBA and basic mathematics curricula for online delivering; Marketing Development; Planning and Budget. |
|
| Dr. Gideon Nwatu | Ph.D. & MBA | MBA510 -Leadership & Management | Senior Consultant |
| Applied Management (ISM); Management & Accounting | MBA521 – Accounting for Decision Making | SOHANU, INC | |
| Walden University; UDC | MAM628 – Marketing Analytics | Cooperation Financial Advisor and Strategic Planning and budget Advisor, etc. | |
Dr. Jun Kang |
J.D. | MBA552 – Business Law and Ethics | Partner, |
| Business Law | King & Wood Mallesons LLP | ||
| School of Law, Michigan State University |
• Business Law • Investment Funds’ Forma on and Investment • M&A Transac ons (deal size: $50 million to $4 billion) • Capital Market Transacons (Equity and Debt Financings |
||
Prof. Joseph Pettiford, (SPHR, SHRM-SCP, GPHR®, PMI-ACP, SFC, CSM, SMC, CSPO) |
MBA |
MBA560 – Human Resources and Organizational Behavior |
Associate Vice President for HRS |
| Business Administration & HR Management |
LAM611 – Project Management | Howard Community College | |
| University of Maryland | MBA690 – Capstone Project | • Manage $120MM+ operation, 1,500+ employees, • Supervise a staff of eleven highly skilled human resources practitioners. Oversee areas including labor relations, recruitment and retention, diversity and inclusion, organizational design and planning, workforce planning and analysis, management development, compensation, employee relations, professional development, and legal compliance. |
|
| Dr. Vargha Azad | Ph.D. | MBA515 – Managerial Economics |
Senior Consultant |
| Organizational leadership | LAM638 – International Business Management | World Bank | |
| Nova South Eastern University |
MAM622 – Advanced Analytics & Modeling | She worked on trade study for PREM (Poverty Reduction and Economic Management) in Africa on Intermediate Methodology for Comparative Analysis of Trade policies. Produced Country Assistance Strategy, Special Program of Assistance, and at a Glance table for the countries. Maintained, and updated the Live Data Bases for these countries. She did all the data analysis on these countries with respect to economic monitoring. She did the financial and economic analysis of World Bank projects. |